No business is worth much without its customers, and that’s why we place so much value on what ours have to say, the incredible ideas they come up with using our products, and what they’re able to achieve within their respective organizations. Here are 6 things we learned about our customers in 2013.
1. They Know How to Drive Organizational Change
In the wake of a major economic downturn, Edison Company of New York, Inc. (Con Edison) found it critical to identify opportunities for cost savings by digging into the realities of their internal processes. After implementing Mindjet, they found them — $600,000 worth, in fact — but more importantly, they saw positive changes across the company culture, including increased employee engagement. Read the case study.
“The mapping approach increased participation and excitement around process improvement, and made these meetings highly productive.”
- Al Homyk, General Manager of Operations Services
2. They Believe in Education and Human Development
For over fifty years, EDC (Educational Development Center) has been working towards improved education in regularly unstable economic conditions. A culture of effective project management is imperative for them to achieve a simple goal, globally: to transform lives. Read the case study.
“When technology tools, such as interactive whiteboards, become integrated into everyday activities, like gathering at circle time or using the water table, then learning can happen. The collection and sequencing of these experiences is important. It’s not just the technology.”
- Shelley Pasnik, Director of EDC’s Center for Children and Technology
3. They Embrace Disparity
Industry-leader DOW, which provides technology-based products and solutions to customers — has teams all over the world. In order to continue successfully serving their users in over 160 countries, they needed to be able to brainstorm and innovate across teams, regardless of physical location. Implementing solutions like video conferencing wasn’t enough; task-management, real-time iterations of project plans, and cross-cultural brainstorming sessions needed to be supported through a single tool. Embracing disparity allows Dow to service their customers with the best talent and products, independent of location. Read the case study.
“Seldom are all meeting participants under one roof. Mindjet provides our staff with the opportunity to make changes and document new logic during working sessions. As a result, OFA and IT staffs were immediately able to evaluate changes being made, and see how those changes fit into the big picture.”
- Chris Haney, Technology Leader
4. They Support Connectivity and Sustainability
DPR Construction is a construction firm specializing in technically complex and sustainable projects, particularly in the areas of advanced technology, life sciences, corporate offices, healthcare, and higher education. In their own words, they “exist to build great things.” One of those things is a highly interconnected, efficient, and innovative workforce, which allows them to leverage ideas and globally in an effort to “respect the individual and change the world.” Read the case study.
“The biggest reaction from participants is that their network is so much wider than it used to be…We’re letting people know that they can change the company, which hopefully can influence the industry, which hopefully influences things beyond the industry and ultimately, the world.”
- Jim Washburn, Regional Manager
5. They Understand the Power of Disruption and Creativity
Allstate is infamous for providing a safeguard against all of the mayhem that life can often bring — so it may come as a surprise that they’re also an exceptionally innovative company that fully recognizes the benefits that disruption can offer. This approach allows them to continue evolving alongside their customers’ needs, while maintaining higher-than-average levels of employee engagement and thoughtful contributions. Read the case study.
“With mature products and services and strong competition, the insurance space is ripe for disruptive innovation…Our employees are passionate about our success, so we knew we just had to provide a creative way to engage them to address our biggest challenges.”
- Matt Manzella, Director, Strategy & Innovation Services
6. They Are Dedicated to Changing Lives
What Ekso Bionics does is, in itself, heroic. In their words, they are “committed to applying the latest technology and engineering to help people rethink current physical limitations and achieve the remarkable.” Which for them, means building revolutionary, technologically advanced exoskeletons to help individuals with paralysis and other physical restrictions experience augmented mobility and capability. Watch the video case study.
“With Ekso, people can possibly have a different answer to a question they always ask…’Will I walk again?’ We want to collaborate with top rehabilitation hospitals. But during the meetings, having Mindjet out, and capturing their feedback, and showing them immediately how serious we are about this relationship…was extremely important. When you start the scientific process, you never know where you’ll end up. But at least to have the clarity that we are going down this path, and we have confidence that we’ll get to the end — Mindjet has been a great tool to help us see and organize the information and put it together in a plan. Here at Ekso Bionics we are about improving peoples’ lives, and to do that, you need great tools. Mindjet is one of those tools.”
- Karl Gudmundsson, Formerly VP of Marketing
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